Our family's adventures in audiobooks and podcasts!

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I love the library. I’ve always felt safe and at home there. This is my dream library…

So of course, I went straight to my local Vancouver Public Library branch when I was looking for free and easily accessible road trip entertainment.

I first checked out the Books Plus CD section of the kids’ area, and eventually ventured over the Audiobook CD section. The Books Plus CDs are mostly shorter picture books, great to start out with, but only about 5 to 10 minutes long. I also needed to help my daughter turn the pages, as not all the CDs have cues, and she doesn’t know how to read yet. I now much prefer to borrow Audiobook CDs by themselves. M doesn’t seem to mind not having a book to follow along with. The stories are more complex and they are usually 60+ minutes long so I can actually get things done while she’s occupied.

Next, I discovered the Digital Library online! Even better. I can browse titles from home, and no scratched and skipping CDs! I download titles onto an MP3 player and we take it everywhere. At the end of the loan period, the books are returned automatically so nothing is ever overdue!

I’m lucky enough to have access to OverDrive through my library in Vancouver. Each city will have different resources, like Hoopla in North Vancouver and RBDigital in Burnaby. The catch is that downloadable audiobooks and eBooks are typically only accessible to residents of that city, whereas I am able to borrow actual books and CDs from any of the nearby suburban libraries if there’s an elusive title I’m looking for.

Really though, there are so many books at our library (physical and digital), I don’t know when we’ll have time to listen to them all! And this is just the start…